


Assembled

by lookingglassalice6



Series: Steve and Ava [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 12:09:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20097007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lookingglassalice6/pseuds/lookingglassalice6
Summary: Steve and Ava renew their relationship. Steve tries to adjust to being thawed in a whole new world.





	1. Chapter 1

“And that’s all you told him? ‘Hello Rogers?’. Dear friend, if there was ever a time in a girl’s life to dramatically rush to a man and kiss him…that, would’ve been it.” Peggy chuckled.

It was a few days after Steve re-animated. Since I was back in town I was getting some visits in while I could. Peggy lived in a beautiful house, she’d lived a beautiful life. I had just finished telling her everything. Starting with us meeting in the war. She had trouble remembering more and more. But she became animated as she would recall with me. Some days I was just the nice lady who told her stories.

“Seventy years is a long time. I thought I would play coy a little longer. I have to run but I’ll visit again soon.” I stood from my chair.

“Yes, do you ever wish you would age just to get some rest, Ava?” She smiled up at me. Her niece, Sharon, entered. Sharon was one of the few people who knew who I was. The fabricated story was that Ava Erskine had passed away, I was a distant relative who happened to have the same name and features. It sounded stupid as hell but it worked. How do you explain a non-aging enhanced empathetic manipulator? You can’t.

“Actually, I do. Find a nice fella and settle down?” It was a private joke of ours. I would never settle down, Peggy and Howard had hounded me for years about it. The idea was nice but the execution was impossible.

“Go on. Enjoy the world.” Peggy waved me away.

“She gives you the exact same speech as me.” Sharon rolled her eyes. “Enjoying is not in an agent’s schedule.”

“Too true. How is she doing?”

“She has her good days and bad days.”

“Call me if you need anything.”

I left Peggy and drove to a large building under construction. It had to be the ugliest skyscraper in New York.

“Ava, good day.” The private elevator greeted me.

“Sup Jarvis. Where is he?”

“Penthouse, you’ll be there shortly.”

The elevator doors opened into a vast living area with an amazing view. A pretty red-head was looking at a holographic schematic of the building we were in.

“Ava. Good. Will you look over this for me?”

“Of course, Pepper. You could’ve just sent it to my phone.” I smiled as a dark-haired man came in from the balcony.

"Shouldn’t you be checking in on the capsicle?” He jumped over the back of a couch and flopped onto the cushions.

“Tony, stop it.” Pepper and I were putting our heads together over the specs.

“What? Most ladies would be thrilled with a perpetually stiff love interest.” Tony shrugged.

“Well, at least Pepper will never have to deal with that. This all looks good, Pepper knows what she’s doing. Nice place by the way. Ostentatious enough, is it?” I stood up and stretched.

“Not just yet, I’m thinking more lights.” Tony gestured with his hands.

Tony was the only son of Howard and his wife, Maria. I had been a part of his life since he was born. Our relationship was never the most stable. He had serious father issues, and I was his father’s oldest friend. Not to mention my special relationship with ‘Captain America’ who he also had issues with. But from a young age, he showed the same heightened intellect as me. We would build things that seemed impossible together. He didn’t know what I did, that I was an Agent. He knew I didn’t age but I told him it was a medical condition, which it was. I watched him turn into a quintessential playboy, get kidnapped, and come back a changed man. Recently he had made his peace with SHIELD and come to terms with the fact I was a secret agent. But the recent unfreezing of Steve had made Tony a little salty.

“Put up a neon sign like in Las Vegas. It will add a touch of class. ‘Stark Tower- Home of Iron Man’.” I spread my arms wide like a game show hostess. Iron Man was Tony’s hero persona, he donned a metal suit and fought the bad guys. Basically my job but in a cooler suit. And he was not a member of SHIELD. Tony didn’t trust anyone but himself.

“See, she likes it.” He looked at Pepper and gave me a thumbs up. I sat in a chair and we talked for a while. The arc reactor in Tony’s chest that kept him alive glowed. It was an amazing piece of technology that Howard had conceptualized and Tony perfected. It started to get dark and I realized I had one more stop to make before I could crash at my apartment. I said my goodbyes and made my way to a small old-fashioned looking gym in Brooklyn. I could hear vicious punches to a heavy bag as I entered. The guy who ran it gave me a smile as he was gathering his things to leave.

“Have him lock up when he’s done.”

“Sure thing.” I patted his hand and went into the main gym. There was a boxing ring, weights, nothing fancy or electronic. Steve liked to be here, he felt at home.

I watched him attack the punching bag. His muscles moved under the white SSR tee. He worked out in the familiar outfit he had transformed in and woken up in. I couldn’t help but admire his tight ass in the loose-fitting tan pants. Seventy years perfectly preserved. Goddamn, he was still a specimen.

“Don’t you like your apartment?” I asked. He stopped punching and turned to me.

“It’s too quiet.” He smirked and went back to what he was doing.

“Too quiet? Not a complaint most New Yorkers have.” I walked over to a bench and sat.

“Ava, what are you doin’ here? Don’t you have better things to do?” He stopped again and glared at me, hands on his hips.

“No. I’ve been pretty focused on my career for almost a century so my social life is a little lacking.” I tilted my head, a small smile on my lips.

“Then you wasted a lot of time.” He untaped his hands and started to gather his things.

I understood why he was agitated. He was trying to live in a world he had given up. He’d made his peace with no future, no tomorrow when he flew that plane into the water. Then he woke up, the world moved on. He was trying to find a purpose now. He was used to being a soldier, having a mission. Before that, he’d wanted a family. Now there was just…existing.

“No, no I didn’t because what use was there in relationships when everyone I knew would age and grow and die? Why have kids when I would end up burying them? Why not just devote everything I was to something I believed in? To the memory of the one- You know what. It’s fine. I’m not the girl you used to know. She died in the ice. This woman is wiser, harder, and not innocent. But she’s just trying to help you.” I stood up, glaring at the floor and started for the exit. 

I felt him rushing me from behind. But he wasn’t angry, he was sick with feeling. He wrapped his arms around me, holding my back to his front. He was sweaty and he was panting into my hair, his forehead pressed to my temple. I held his forearms as he gripped me tighter. He was just hugging me. Hugging me tighter than anyone ever had before. I was having trouble getting breath actually. I think he sensed it and relaxed his grip a bit.

“There’s just too much. Too much to learn, to accept. I have no goddamn clue what I am doing. I want to just feel normal.”

“No one is normal, Steve. You just need to get to functional.” I chuckled in my throat and turned my head so we were nose to nose.

“I feel like I just kissed you, in the car. I bet you’ve been kissed by better since then.” His blue eyes were cautious.

“No, never better. You may not have had much practice but you knew what you were doing.”

He moved his mouth to me, grazing his lips over my mouth, then kissing me with force. I turned in his arms and put my hands in his hair. His arms moved around me, hugging me to him again. It was the third most passionate kiss I had ever experienced, right after the first ones he’d given me seventy years ago. I felt something from him, wariness. He was concerned that since I was so schooled in romance now, I would be disappointed in him. He couldn’t figure out where his place in the world was yet, but he would know his place in mine before the night was over. I hoped.

His hands moved against my back, to my sides. My tank top had moved up exposing a sliver of skin above the waistband of my jeans. His hands were hot on that bit of skin. It just made me want his hands all over. My fingers tangled in his hair and I tried not to pull. I rolled my hips into him and felt him harden. I think he had forgotten to wear anything under his workout pants. Oh dear God.

“Ava, I don’t think this is-” Steve pulled away and I grabbed his shirt, pulling him back to me.

I locked my lips over his before he could give some speech about how this wasn’t the time or the place. He was big on speeches. I pushed my tongue into his mouth and he groaned. His hands moved over my ribs. My hands pushed up his shirt, I ran my nails over the ridges of his stomach and around his sides to his sculpted back. His mouth moved down to my neck, he kissed and sucked until I was pushing against him. He pulled away, question in his eyes.

“Sorry, that’s sort of an ignition switch for me.” I panted and closed my eyes. If he didn’t want to fuck in this gym, fine. But we would have to stop the making out.

“Ignition switch?” He was breathing fast, his eyes dark with lust.

“Like I need to take a cold shower before I go home.” I sighed and pushed my hair out of my eyes. I avoided looking at the impressive erection pushing the front of his pants. I wanted it. In my hands, my mouth, just in me.

“Yeah, same here.” He made the same frustrated sigh as me. And then I was picturing him in the shower, that didn’t help. “You could take one in the locker room.”

“Oh…okay,” I said. I considered saying something else and opened my mouth before snapping it shut again. Screw it. “Want to join me?”

“Thank God you asked.” Steve exhaled and came at me again. His hands tangled in my hair and he attacked my lips with his.

“So I don’t have loose morals?” I asked as he was backing me towards the locker room.

“I’m changing with the times.” He grabbed the hem of my tank top and pulled it over my head with one hand as the other hand turned on the water in one of the stalls. I had a basic bra and panty set on, I hadn’t planned on having sex today.

“Yeah, underwear has changed a bit.” I shrugged, remembering the old stuff I used to wear. Like party hats strapped to my tits. I kicked off my shoes and unbuttoned my jeans. I worked them over my legs and tossed them aside.

“I like the new direction, really.” He smiled and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He pulled his shirt off and was working on his shoes as I unhooked my bra and slid it off. I was considering the logistics of this, shower sex was fun, but water was not a lubricant and the whole condom thing. I was in deep thought and realized Steve was staring at me. His eyes fixated on me in just my lacy boyshorts.

“What?” I asked.

“You-” He cleared his throat. “Ava you’re beautiful. I mean, you have always been- but like this….You’re like a pin-up.” He cleared his throat again.

“Really?” I grinned. I went to the sink and hopped onto the counter. I crossed my legs and put one arm behind my head, smiling prettily. “Did I miss my calling?”

Steve smirked and walked to me. His large hands cupped my breasts, rolling them in his palms. His thumbs brushed over my nipples and my legs fell open so he could move between them. He kissed my neck again, then worked his head lower. I leaned back against the mirror to give him better access. I felt his warm, wet mouth envelope one nipple and I braced myself. He used his teeth, grazing over one breast then the other. I was getting impatient, I was soaked and wondered if we would even make it to the shower. I slid my hands into the front of his pants and found I was right, nothing at all under them. I moved my hand along his cock, there was pre-cum at the tip and I used my thumb to swirl it. He pulled his head away from my chest with a hiss.

“How long-how long is it supposed to take because I don’t think-” He was getting flustered, worry was etching through the lust again. I projected my arousal to calm him.

“The first time I don’t expect a marathon. Thanks to your stamina you’ll be good to go again in 10 minutes.” I reassured him with a few more strokes of his cock and then jumped off the sink. I slid my underwear down and pushed his pants off his hips. Damn, oh, damn. I must’ve made a noise because he blushed as a surge of pride/embarrassment flowed through him. I grabbed his arms and pulled him back to me as I perched my ass on the edge of the counter. I moved against him, relishing the skin to skin contact. He was unyielding muscle everywhere and his body temperature was so hot. I looked up at him with a tilt of my head and put his hand at the apex of my thighs. He ran a finger along my folds, feeling the wetness, the softness. His eyes were still on mine. I got the feeling he got off on the eye contact, the connection. He pushed one finger into me, probing, then another. The rough pads of his fingers felt amazing as he stretched me. His thumb found the small bundle of nerves where the sweet waves of pleasure were coming from. It was like an electric spark when he pressed on it. My head fell back, I’m lucky I didn’t break the mirror, and my mouth parted. He increased his attentions and I grabbed his wrist, trying to stop as the intensity grew. He pulled his fingers from me as I came with a gasp. The room had filled with steam and I yelped as Steve wrapped an arm around my waist and picked me up. I linked my legs around his hips as he carried me to the stall. He pressed me to the tiled wall and ran a thumb over my cheekbone. I had one hand on his neck and with the other, I reached between us and guided his cock into me. His eyes widened in shock as I seated myself and put my hand on his shoulder.

“That’s the most intimidating part and it’s over,” I whispered, my teeth grazing his ear. He nodded and started to move, pushing me harder into the tile. “Easy, you’ll shove me right through the wall wonder boy.”

“Sorry.” He panted and gripped me harder around the waist. 

The water was splashing off his back, landing in his hair. I laid my forehead on his as his thrusts intensified, I would be sore in the morning but it would be so worth it. I marveled in the fact that this was Steve I was with. Finally and it happened so…naturally. That as much as the feeling of him had me climaxing again. When my walls clenched around him he moaned and spilled inside of me. That was the only time he shut his eyes when he came. He relaxed into me and I felt myself slipping down the wall. I yelped and grabbed around his neck harder, his arm convulsed around my waist to hold me up. We both started laughing.

“That would be an injury I wouldn’t want to explain at work,” I mumbled as he eased me to the ground. “Yeah, I landed on my ass in a gym shower, can’t go on any ops this week.”

“You told me not to grip so hard.” Steve kept his hands on my waist as he looked down at me. “I was a little, um, affected by what happened. I wouldn’t drop you otherwise.”

“I know. Maybe this setting wasn’t the best for your…our, first time.” I corrected myself.

“I don’t know. A touch of the old world…” He trailed off and shook his head. “Next time, I’ll take you out. Dinner, a flick, dancing.”

“Then we can canoodle in a car up on make-out point.” I made a face at him. Fine, he could be old fashioned in some ways. Just keep it in check.

“Make time with my best gal.” He leaned back into the spray.

“Only gal.” I put my hands on my hips. He opened his mouth to say something when I heard an alert from my jeans. My phone was making DEFCON noises. “Shit.”

I grabbed a towel from a shelf and slid to a stop by my clothes. Once I extracted my phone I read the message. -LEVEL SEVEN INCOMING CALL FROM DIRECTOR FURY-. Steve came over with a towel around his waist as the phone rang.

“Ava, Project PEGASUS is compromised. Barton and Selvig are with the hostile. Debriefing file at your apartment. Try and get Rogers, Avengers Initiative is activated and we need him.” Fury hung up as I gaped at my phone.

“What’s the Avengers Initiative?” Steve asked.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Battle of New York takes place

As I drove Steve back to his place I explained what I knew so far.

“When we were looking for you, we found some other things. I suggested leaving them, but their argument was someone else would find it if we didn’t take them. There was this thing, a cube, I hated it. It made me have massive headaches. The whole touching something and feeling its history…” I stared at the road.

“HYDRA wanted it, so I can guess the history is not very bright.” Steve ran his hand through his hair.

“A portal was opened, someone came out, they hijacked one of our agents and a scientist working with us. This person who came out…his brother visited us recently and it caused some issues.” I stopped in front of his apartment and looked over to him. I could feel extreme confusion and took a deep breath.

“A portal..to-from where?” He stumbled over the words.

“We don’t have enough time to cover it all. Just…keep an open mind through this. I was hoping to give you more of a crash course after tonight but-” I put my hands up in a ‘what can you do’ gesture. “I can make you more at ease with it, but I’d prefer not to influence you.

“An open mind.” Steve looked up at his apartment. “Sometimes I forget that you’re enhanced.”

“Oh because all mine is-” I pointed to my head. “And yours are-” I waved my hand all over him.

“Oh, yours are -” He copied my movements all over my body and I stifled a laugh.

“Wow, our night sort of spiraled didn’t it?”

“Have sex with my best girl and now I get to fight portal…people. Yeah, the world is a strange place.” He undid his belt and opened the car door. He moved back and kissed me. I wrapped an arm around his neck and moved my lips against his.

“I’ll be back in an hour.” I smiled as he licked his lips and left the car.

-

Steve and I were in the Quinjet with Coulson. I was in contact with Natasha on my headset as she gave me a rundown of everything. I was also trying to contact Tony.

“He’s not answering?” Nat asked.

“No, Coulson said Pepper was persuasive and thinks he’ll join us. But it will be on his terms. My godson is a stubborn bastard.” I muttered and flicked through my tablet. I was looking at all the files we had on HYDRA tech. Steve was on his own tablet, only his held the information on all the other team members. Coulson came over and started to talk to Steve.

“You’re my age don’t say stuff like that.” Nat raised her voice over the wind. She was on the helipad of the helicarrier waiting for us.

Nat was an interesting agent. She had been part of a program for the U.S.S.R. A gender-swapped version of Steve. She was a spy before she hit puberty and was very successful at it. An agent had been sent from SHIELD to dispatch her, but he decided to recruit her instead. That agent was the one who had been mindfucked by the man from the portal.

“Any word on Clint?” I asked quietly.

“No, Loki is keeping a low profile. This guy, Ava, he’s a myth. He’s a GOD. How-” Nat cut herself off with a groan of frustration. As a rule, she never showed feelings if she could avoid it. But Clint was her best friend. Sort of what Bucky had become to me during the time we had with him.

“Every time something new comes along, we take it head-on. That’s how.” I looked up and noticed Coulson was blushing and Steve had a strange smile on his face as he stood to look out the window. “I think Phil just hit on Steve. Out.”

“I mean, I was….I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. I would sit with Ava and-” Phil glanced at me as I set my tablet down.

“He’s a big fan of your work Rogers. He believes in good things.” I smiled as Steve glanced over his shoulder at me.

“It’s just a huge honor to have you onboard.” Phil finally relaxed.

“Well, I hope that I’m the man for the job.” Steve nodded at Coulson.

“You are. Absolutely. Did you tell him about the uniform?” Phil looked at me, excitement in his eyes.

“Not about this one.” I raised an eyebrow.

This uniform wasn’t my favorite. It reminded me too much of his one when he was doing the USO shows. I liked the helmet and leather jacket he wore over it with the Commandos. But Coulson deserved this. I also had something in the works for when…if, he decided to join STRIKE.

“Uniform? Wasn’t it a little old fashioned.” Steve asked.

“We made some modifications, I had some input. I mean, with everything happening, everything that is coming to light…people may need a little old fashioned.”

I looked down at my tablet, a schematic of the tesseract on the screen. Portals, mystical objects, Gods. I had a feeling that Phil was right.

When we landed Natasha was there to greet us. Phil hurried to introduce Steve.

“Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers.”

“Ma’am.” Steve’s eyes grazed over Nat’s figure. She was gorgeous, her body a machine like Steve’s. His eyes flicked to me to see if I noticed. I had sunglasses on and smirked.

“Hi. Coulson, they need you on the bridge, face time. Erskine, you’re on research. In the words of Director Fury ‘send her to the lab and attach her to a computer’.” Nat pushed a piece of hair behind her ear.

“Sounds about right.” I nodded. “Captain.”

“Agent.” Steve nodded and I felt the need to taunt rolling off Nat. As I walked away I hit her with a burst of annoyance. She knew what Steve and I had been, the whole fucking world knew thanks to his trick with the compass. Which he still had in his pocket. As if my enhancements didn’t make me a freak enough, dating a 100-year-old superhero would probably clinch it.

I spent most of the day deep into HYDRA’s history. I knew most of it but I was focusing on the tesseract. I had worked my way into legends. Stories about stones that each carried a special power. Together they were unstoppable. But it was folklore. There was no solid evidence. Dr. Bruce Banner joined me and went to work on his computer. Nat had recruited him since he was the foremost expert on gamma radiation. The tesseract was giving them off in waves and he was working an algorithm to find it.

“So, Captain…he knows about-” Bruce asked me tentatively. I felt the other guy sort of flowing beneath the surface of Bruce.

“He knows. Coulson told him.”

“The serum, does he know you helped me?”

“I haven’t had a chance to tell him about it. All he knows is that I stopped working on it.” I took my glasses off and spun in my chair. “How is the big guy?”

“Controlled. But you already know that.” Bruce half-smiled at me.

“He doesn’t like me very much, does he?” I stood up and stretched.

“Oh, he loves you. You can call him out and you can make him vanish. If he could pull a King Kong and drag you to the top of a tower he would.” Bruce went back to his computer.

“I warned you that vita-rays and gamma rays were not the same thing. Three doctorates over 70 years and no one listens to me.” I tsked. Bruce made a mumbled noise and I laughed.

“Suspect located. Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse. Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff deployed.” An announcement rang through the room.

“Germany…that’s fitting.” I sighed and went back to my research. ‘Back In Black’ suddenly blared from my phone. I answered it. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Had to finish my homework before I could go out and play. Coordinates right?”

“Yep, Germany. Keep an eye on him, Jarvis.”

“Always Miss Erskine.”

“Hey, you guys never let me have any fun.” Tony disconnected from me.

The mission was successful, we had Loki and the scepter. But no tesseract, no Barton. We also acquired another God in the process somehow. I was working over the scepter with Bruce when they brought Loki past the lab to the detention section. We looked up and found Loki smiling at us. My head gave a throb in both temples. Bruce rubbed his head as I took my glasses off and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Maybe we should take a break.” I nodded to the upper area where everyone was gathered in a briefing room. Bruce and I joined them. I tilted my head down as I listened to Fury interrogate Loki on a monitor.

“He really grows on you, doesn’t he?” Bruce broke the silence that followed the screen going blank. Everyone started to talk and I sort of tuned them out. Like the masochist I was, I was feeling for the scepter. It was linked to the tesseract, they both came from…nothing. But they contained everything. I felt emotions I didn’t understand or recognize.

“That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn’t notice but we did.” I came back to the conversation when Tony clapped me on the shoulder.

“Ow…what?” I asked. I had been leaning on Fury’s command desk.

“It’s okay, the elderly need their sleep.” He covered one eye and looked around. “How does Fury do this?”

“He turns.” Agent Maria Hill, Fury’s second stated. I rubbed my face with my hands.

“I’m going to find some coffee.” I shuffled away, leaving Tony and Bruce to be the information team. Steve found me sometime later, my face scrunched in concentration.

“That Stark…is he really Howard’s? Are you okay?” He was still in his uniform and I snorted a laugh.

“Man with the plan. Jesus, this makes me feel old. I’m fine. I’m developing a weird connection to the scepter. I was trying to go deeper.” We started to walk back to the lab.

“You look pale.”

“I’m always pale. Are you my boyfriend or my superior?” I bumped him with my hip.

“Right now, your superior. No more scepter.” He directed.

We walked into the lab and found Tony poking Bruce with a small electrical prod.

“Hey! Are you nuts?!” Steve strode up to the men. I opened my mouth to say that Bruce was fine. I ended up being spoken over by Tony and Steve as they held an impromptu pissing contest. I rolled my eyes and went to my computer. So the first appearance of the tesseract that is documented is in Asgard but that’s not it’s origin.

“His secrets have secrets, Ava?” Tony called my name.

“Yes, Tony. Every entity as large as SHIELD has secrets.” I gave my standard answer. Tony started talking before Steve could question me. Good, back to my reading. I stopped when I felt the sensation of someone leaving in emotional turmoil.

“That’s the guy you and dad went on and on about?” Tony asked as I saw Steve striding through the hallway.

“Dammit, Tony. He is a soldier. He is used to trusting those in command. He has to adjust to this whole thing.” I pushed away from the desk and ran after Steve.

I found him outside a secure storage area in the hull.

“Go back to the lab Ava.” He was examining the iron door.

“Look, I don’t trust SHIELD or Fury. Anyone who is in a position of command keeps intel from their team. I trusted Peggy, you, and my father. That’s it. But you have to decide if that’s something you can live with. I decided I could.” I put a hand on his arm.

“I can’t. I follow orders but I’d like to know the reason why.” Steve forced the heavy door open and slinked inside.

“Peggy is right, you are so dramatic. Must be your time in the USO.” I muttered. His head poked back out and he kissed me.

“For luck.”

-

The next morning I entered the lab with Nat and Thor. Tony, Fury, Steve, and Bruce were engaged in yet another yelling contest. Really I could do without all the emotions flying. It was hard to block them out in such a tumultuous environment. Banner glared at Nat as we walked in, Steve glared at me, Tony was looking at Fury with amusement. Thor was lost.

“Did you know about this?” Banner pointed to a crate with HYDRA weapons on it.

“Did you?” Steve strode towards me. Feelings of betrayal and anger swarmed me. Banner and Nat were getting into a heated argument and I had to do some even breathing.

“I knew we had them. But why they’re on the helicarrier is a fucking mystery. They told me that it was for research, like the tesseract. Safe, secured, and not ready for activity.” I hissed. Steve took an involuntary step back. My voice had dropped and I knew I was in a fight stance. I needed everyone to calm the fuck down. Particularly Bruce.

“So why?” Bruce asked the room at large.

“Because of him.” Fury pointed at Thor. The arguing intensified and I sat on the floor. I tried to concentrate on what feelings were mine. My hands went to my head. At one point both Steve and Tony tried to comfort me and I snarled at them, they started to argue. There was a noise building behind all the bad feelings. It managed to be piercing and deep at the same time. My senses were in overload, probably why I didn’t recognize the immediate danger.

“Oh my god!” I heard Banner yell and then we were thrown in all different directions.

Nat, Bruce, and I were dropped a level below. My head glanced off something hard as I landed. I could hear our breathing and then realized something.

“Oh shit, oh shit.” I breathed and tried to stand. My vision dimmed and I touched my temple. My hand came away bloody and I looked for Nat. “Nat…we…gotta..” I leaned against a wall.

“Ava! Banner!” Nat hissed from a few feet away.

“I know…s’why we gotta…”

“Calm him down…jesus. Ava sit down.” Nat’s eyes were moving between me and Banner now. She was trapped under something and was struggling to get out. I slumped to the floor trying to concentrate on the other guy emerging in Bruce. I pushed him away as long as I could then I just wasn’t there anymore.

-

“You’re lucky you’re resilient. You should be dead.” The doctor made some notes on my chart. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been out. I had no idea where anyone was.

“I’m over 100 years old, so should be dead is an understatement. Thanks but I’ll head out now.” The doc looked like he wanted to argue but I was higher ranking. So he made a frustrated noise and left.

Yeah, it took a lot to kill me. I couldn’t heal if someone chopped my hand off like some others I’d heard of, but I made do. Stood up and removed my IV, securing a cotton ball with tape over the puncture. I don’t know how people with no medical training do that in movies, it hurts like hell. I looked in the mirror. The left side of my face was a mass of bruises, and my head seemed…off. My temple was a little caved in and there were a few sutures. Someone had washed the blood off my neck and face but my hair was still tinged red. I went to look for my phone to contact Fury.

“Back into bed Agent.” I turned to find Steve in the doorway. He looked exhausted. I ran and hugged him, he looked surprised by my energy. “You realize you’ve been out for 2 days? You lost blood and sustained extreme head trauma?”

“One time on a mission I was shot by a sniper in the shoulder. It shattered my collarbone. Once it was set I went back to work. It was healed in 2 weeks. I may not be able to run a mile in 10 seconds but the serum worked a little.”

“Still…” Steve tried to back me into the bed.

“No. What happened? Where’s Loki and the tesseract? The team?” I brushed past him and grabbed the black pants to my uniform. It was the only thing that survived apparently.

He told me the whole story. I had managed to miss an epic battle that destroyed Stark Tower and half of New York. SHIELD had Loki and the tesseract. Thor would be returning with them to Asgard in a week.

“The Avengers thing actually worked?” I was surprised. We were being driven to my apartment by a SHIELD agent.

“Eventually.” Steve looked out the window and smirked. I flashed back to the cab ride with him to the experiment so long ago. I looked at my phone, there was a message from Tony that he needed to see me immediately about the tower. And also he had checked on me every day in the hospital and of course the day I left he wasn’t there. I chuckled.

“Guess I’ll be staying in New York for a while.”

“Oh yeah, DC is your home now.” I turned to look at Steve. That was true. I had the apartment in New York but I was based in DC since that’s where SHIELD headquarters were.

“Have you ever considered a change of scenery?” I took his hand, wrapping my fingers in his.


End file.
